As "The Force Awakens" hits theaters, rave reviews are pouring in for the latest installment in the "Star Wars" series.

People's reactions are no doubt being colored by 38 years of "Star Wars" being an integral part of pop culture, and it might make you wonder: how did people react to the first movie in 1977, when it basically spawned an entire new genre of mainstream, blockbuster sci-fi films?

Keep reading to see reviews of 1977's "Star Wars"— later rechristened "Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope"— from The New Yorker, the LA Times, and more. 

"Star Wars is magnificent you'll pant for more" - The Toronto Star

Yup, that was the headline. 

The review itself, by Clyde Gilmour, manages to perfectly distill the original trilogy's magic into a single paragraph:

Lucas himself says his new film is not really science-fiction but a live-action comic strip, "a shoot-em-up with ray guns." It distills the joys he cherished as a youngster while watching movies and TV shows and soaking up the adventures of Flash Gordon. There are touches of The Wizard of Oz in it, along with the Hardy Boys and Arthurian romances and a thousand half-forgotten westerns.

Of course, none of these characteristics would be found in the prequels that started hitting theaters in 1999, but reviewers now are saying that "The Force Awakens" retains the magic of the original trilogy.

Click here to read the full 1977 Toronto Star review. 

"'Star Wars' hails the once and future space western" - Los Angeles Times

Charles Champlin's L.A. Times review drew parallels between "Star Wars" and Georges Melies' films from the 1900s, and Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey," which came out in 1968. Like the Toronto Star's reviewer, Champlin also name-checked "The Wizard of Oz," which was apparently still looming incredibly large over pop culture after its 1939 debut.

Champlin also took some time to credit the technical crews with bringing "Star Wars" to life. All in all, it was a rave review that focused especially on the comic books and westerns Lucas loves.

"It is," Champlin concludes, "all in all, hard to think of a place or an age group that would not respond to the enthusiastic inventiveness with which Lucas has enshrined his early loves."

Click here to read the full 1977 L.A. Times review.

"A Trip to a Far Galaxy That's Fun and Funny" - The New York Times

Here's another review, this time by Vincent Canby, that focuses on the feel-good, comedic side of "Star Wars."

And funnily enough, it uses Lucas's prior film, "American Graffiti," to introduce readers to the director. Imagine someone today saying, "You know, George Lucas — he directed 'American Graffiti.'" That would never happen!

This review, too, was a rave. Here's an excerpt:

"Star Wars," which opened yesterday at the Astor Plaza, Orpheum and other theaters, is the most elaborate, most expensive, most beautiful movie serial ever made. It's both an apotheosis of "Flash Gordon" serials and a witty critique that makes associations with a variety of literature that is nothing if not eclectic: "Quo Vadis?", "Buck Rogers,""Ivanhoe,""Superman,""The Wizard of Oz,""The Gospel According to St. Matthew," the legend of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table.

Canby does acknowledge that "A New Hope" is a teeny bit thin on plot, though:

The story of "Star Wars" could be written on the head of a pin and still leave room for the Bible. It is, rather, a breathless succession of escapes, pursuits, dangerous missions, unexpected encounters, with each one ending in some kind of defeat until the final one.

Click here to read the entire 1977 New York Times review.

Warning: There are huge spoilers ahead if you haven't seen "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."

Do not keep reading if you haven't seen the film.

The biggest reveal in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is the identity of Kylo Ren. 

Last chance to head back before spoilers!

Towards the end of the movie, we learn Kylo Ren is actually the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa. 

If you're a big "Star Wars" fan, you probably weren't TOO surprised.

After all, Han and Leia have a few kids in the expanded universe (EU) — two boys and one girl.

However, the big twist, which probably threw fans off, was the reveal of Kylo Ren's actual name — Ben. The names of Han and Leia's kids in the EU are twins Jacen and Jaina and Anakin, named after Leia's dad. 

It's actually Luke who ends up with a son named Ben Skywalker, which honestly makes more sense because Ben/Obi-Wan Kenobi has more of an influence on Luke in the originally trilogy from a viewer's perspective.

Though Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm in 2012 rendered the "Star Wars" EU no longer canon, it looks like "The Force Awakens" is using some inspiration from one of Jacen Skywalker's most popular storylines.

Jacen appears in several series in the EU, but it's in the "Legacy of the Force" where he turns to the dark side and takes on the identity of Darth Caedus. 

In that series, Jacen is close with his cousin, Ben Skywalker. However, he's told in order to truly become a Sith lord he most kill someone close to him. Jacen ultimately ends up killing Ben's mother and Luke Skywalker's wife, Mara Jade.

Ben then vows to avenge his fallen mother.

There's much more to the nine book series, but those basic details look like they may have served as inspiration for "The Force Awakens."

Kylo may be a version of Jacen while Rey could very well be a genderswapped adaptation of Luke's son, Ben.

Of course, we have no clear idea who Rey is yet, but it seems very likely she could end up being Luke's daughter. Either way, it appears the new franchise could be leading to an exciting showdown between Rey and Kylo in later films.

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NEW YORK (AP) — "Star Wars" fever has spread through movie theaters around the globe, even reaching the White House, as the franchise yet again began toppling box-office records with waves of lightsaber-wielding fans.

Following a record $57 million from Thursday night showings in North America, and packed matinees on Friday, the Walt Disney Co. projected that "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" will surpass $215 million on the weekend, besting the record domestic opening of "Jurassic World," which debuted with $208.8 million in June.

Such an outcome would surprise few analysts, but the numbers were nevertheless eye-popping. "The Force Awakens" was heading toward a Thursday night-Friday total of more than $120 million domestically, said Dave Hollis, head of distribution for Disney. The previous one-day high was $91.1 million set by "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2" in 2011.

In such rarified territory, Disney has been cautious about overestimating the box-office force of J.J. Abrams' seventh chapter in George Lucas' space saga. Based on the early response, many analysts have the film pegged for a weekend total closer to $250 million — far above "Jurassic World."

Disney's biggest worry has been that moviegoers will be too daunted by sold-out shows and long lines. More than $100 million advance tickets (also a record) were sold ahead of the opening of "The Force Awakens," much of those going toward Thursday and Friday shows. Saturday and Sunday will depend more on traditional walk-up business. Hollis said exhibitors are continually adding more screenings to satisfy demand.

The international rollout for the film, made for about $200 million, has already brought in an estimated total of $72.7 million since opening in a handful of countries Wednesday. "The Force Awakens" is simultaneously opening around the world just about everywhere but China, where it debuts in January.

It's setting records overseas, too, including the biggest single day ever in the United Kingdom with an estimated $14.4 million on Thursday.

While "Star Wars" helped create the summer blockbuster, "The Force Awakens" is debuting in the holiday season of December, where the previous top opening was the $84.6 million debut of 2012's "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey." By Disney's estimates, "The Force Awakens"— the widest December opening ever with 4,134 theaters — blew past that number by Friday afternoon.

Imax and 3-D screenings are helping to propel the record gross. Disney said that 47 percent of the Thursday box office came from 3-D showings and $5.7 million from Imax screens.

A lot is riding on the film for Disney, which paid $4.06 billion for Lucasfilm in 2012. Sequels and spinoffs are already in development for years to come, not to mention an entire corner of Disneyland devoted to the franchise.

Strong reviews for the film, which is set 30 years after "Return of the Jedi," have added to the fervor for "The Force Awakens." Critics have hailed it as a fan-friendly return to form for the franchise; the American Film Institute listed it among its top 10 films of the year.

Such a positive reaction for "The Force Awakens" may attract the kind of repeat viewings that made James Cameron's "Avatar" and "Titanic" the highest grossing films of all time. Whether "The Force Awakens" can come close to the global hauls of those films ($2.8 billion for "Avatar" and $2.2 billion for "Titanic") won't be clear for weeks.

But so far, "The Force Awakens" is attracting the interest of seemingly everyone. President Barack Obama began a year-end news conference Friday noting, "Clearly, this is not the most important event that's taking place in the White House today." Soon to begin was a screening of the film for families who have lost a relative to combat or service-related injuries.

After fielding questions, Obama concluded the press conference: "OK everybody, I got to get to 'Star Wars.' "

___

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I thought that watching the new "Star Wars" movie was going to be a big letdown. Sure, I read the glowing reviews, but I was concerned. After seeing the new movie, though, I realise I was wrong to be skeptical.

First, let me explain why I felt so negative going into the new movie. I'd greedily hoovered up every plot leak and scrap of information about the new movie. This was a mistake.

I fully expected to sit in the cinema thoroughly bored while the events played out on screen. But the new movie still hooked me in, even if I knew ahead of time what the big reveals were.

I've been hurt by "Star Wars" in the past. The prequel trilogy should have been great, but it was a misjudged mess, filled with racist characters and bad acting. In the back of my mind I was worried that the new movie would feel the same way. A major part of the new movie is introducing the new characters: Rey, Finn, Poe, and the evil Kylo Ren. Sure, Han Solo, Princess Leia, R2-D2 and others all return, but there's a passing of the torch. Thankfully the movie doesn't labour over the introductions, it felt natural.

There are a couple of plot spoilers coming, so look away now if you're worried about ruining the movie for yourself.

At one point, midway through the new movie, I nearly shed a tear. It's the moment when Han Solo is reunited with Princess Leia (now a General). Sure, it's an emotional scene, but I was also feeling a bit fragile because I realised that the new movie recaptured the spirit of the original films so perfectly. The plot leaks and new characters didn't matter — it still felt right. The music was there, the original characters were there, and everything fell into place. You'd cry at that too.

Surprisingly, there are no bad performances in the new movie, either. I was expecting to cringe at the new characters, but they're relatively subtle in their performances. There's no awkward Hayden Christensen-style delivery here. The new villain, Kylo Ren, is menacing and intriguing in equal measures. Everything works, even the new droid, BB-8, which is a sphere with a head that beeps a lot. It could have been annoying, but it wasn't given screen time just for the sake of it.

Harrison Ford is the centrepiece of the new movie, whether he likes it or not. When he walked on screen for the first time, the cinema erupted into applause. I cringed slightly, but it was still a great moment. Ford's performance felt reluctant at times, but it's still masterful, and he dominates every scene he's in. Carrie Fisher, meanwhile, doesn't really do a lot in the movie other than hang around her bunker and wander outside to the parking lot, but it's good to see her back in "Star Wars" again.

The new plot isn't especially clever, nor is it new. There are some bad guys with a big spherical weapon and they're going to shoot it unless the good guys stop them. If you've seen "A New Hope," you know how it goes. However, I'd gladly take a rehash of the original 1977 storyline over a "Phantom Menace"-style rundown of Trade Federation policies any day.

I had a smile on my face when I walked out of the cinema. The new "Star Wars" movie is a success. Director J.J. Abrams has given fans what they wanted: A return to form for the series, and it includes the original cast. Does the new movie beat the original trilogy, as some people have claimed? I don't think so. But it's miles better than the prequels, and it's even fun to sit through when you know what's going to happen.

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The new "Star Wars" movie is only days away, and that means the leaks and spoilers are starting to seep into social media news feeds and websites everywhere.

At this point, there's two camps of Star Wars fans: Those who desire nothing more than to go into the theaters without the faintest idea of what they'll see, and those (like myself) who pour over the latest leaks and spoilers in an attempt to cobble together the movie's plot beforehand.

While spoiler fans argue much of the fun lies in seeing which leaks and spoilers turn out to be true (and which are just hogwash), most people would prefer to stay away — and now there's an easy way to block out Star Wars spoilers without avoiding the internet entirely.

It's called "Force Block," and it's a new web browser extension for Chrome that detects if the webpage you're visiting contains any mention of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." If the website does, Force Block will bar you from seeing the webpage, pointing out that it contains spoilers and asking if you still want to proceed.

As you can see in the screenshot above, Force Block did its job as advertised, blocking my view of the "Star Wars Leaks" subreddit when I visited. The Chrome extension can be turned off by clicking the extension's tiny lightsaber symbol in the top right-hand corner of your browser, and there's also the option to whitelist websites if you need to override Force Block's decision.

You can download Force Block for free over at the Chrome Web Store, just remember that you'll need to be using Google Chrome as your web browser for it to work.

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Reuters published a rather unique photo essay last Friday featuring Ukraine's Darth Vader going about his daily routine — including walking his dog, shaving, and riding the bus.

The wire service reported that the Ukrainian citizen officially changed his name to Darth Mykolaiovych Vader in order to run a stunt campaign for mayor in the port city of Odessa. In that race, he finished 15th out of 42 candidates after campaigning with a number of other supporters dressed in "Star Wars" costumes.

View the photo essay below. 

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Vader dries his hair.

Vader speaks to a woman while walking his dog.

Vader walks his dog along the water.

The seventh film in the "Star Wars" franchise, "The Force Awakens," is now in theaters and you can also buy the toy versions of your favorite characters. The BB-8 toy from Sphero is probably the best thing from the toy lineup that everyone will be excited to get this holiday season.

 Produced by Darren Weaver

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Original story here: http://www.businessinsider.com/star-wars-lightsaber-escape-game-google-chrome-2015-12

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Imagine that you could travel to other planets for a vacation that was literally out-of-this-world.

That's exactly what the folks at The Daily Dot and Column Five– an agency that specializes in informative graphics — have envisioned.

To celebrate the highly-anticipated debut of Disney's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," the two companies got together and named the best vacation destinations within the Star Wars universe.

Check them out below, and may the force be with you.

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If you enjoy exploring beautiful ancient ruins, consider the wondrous planet of Naboo, where Padme Amidala — mother of Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa — was born.

Source: Column Five and The Daily Dot

As the capital of the galactic empire, the city-planet Coruscant always has something going on. Think of it as a futuristic New York City or Las Vegas.

Source: Column FiveandThe Daily Dot

If you want to get your hands on one of the rare and valuable kyber crystals on planet Illum, you'll need to pack warm clothes.

Source: Column FiveandThe Daily Dot

On Sunday, my wife and I will be talking our two young sons to see "Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens."

I'm completely terrified.

Not because I think the movie will be a disaster — all the advance reviews say that director J.J. Abrams nailed it, that the new characters are exciting and well-drawn, and that the return of the war horses (Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher) actually works.

I'm terrified because I've been faking it with my family when it comes to "Star Wars." 

The problem is that I outgrew "Star Wars" in a furious hurry four decades ago, but with the my kids, I've pretended that the films represent a deep and resonant tapestry of timeless myths. At times, I almost talked myself into believing that. But the truth is that I think all the "Star Wars" movies are pretty bad, as movies. As a 10-year-old boy, I was thrilled beyond words by "Star Wars." But I wasn't planning on remaining a wordless awestruck 10-year-old forever.

It's baaacckkk ...

We are definitely a "Star Wars" family. My two older kids, at 13 and 10, have seen all the movies and watched a lot of the follow-on stuff, like "Clone Wars," and know the ins and outs of what I have to admit has become our modern-day answer to Homer. My five-year-old hasn't seen it all, but he knows enough to get by.

It's all my fault. I inflicted "Star Wars" on them years ago. I felt it was a necessary initiation.

But I also sort of forgot what "Star Wars" actually meant to me.

And now I'm going to relive the whole thing, because my 10-year-old is going to see "The Force Awakens" in a real movie theater, replicating my own "Star Wars" origin story — I saw what was my "Episode 1," later rechristened "Episode IV: A New Hope," in 1977, when I was his age. (My kids have only ever watched the "Star Wars" films on video.)

I can already tell that the "Force Awakens" isn't really Episode VII. It's a reboot of the original film, with Abrams taking a page from his successful "Star Trek" playbook.

This is going to place me in the awkward position of deciding whether to do the fatherly thing and guide my 10-year-old toward what I felt, over 30 years ago, was the correct response to "Star Wars," or just give in and allow "The Force Awakens" to achieve what Disney clearly wants it to achieve: mint a whole bunch of new 10-year-old superfans who can keep "Star Wars" going for at least another three installments and, maybe, forever.

This isn't going to be easy because I've been a total fraud where "Star Wars" is concerned. 

Lies, lies, lies

Here's why. "Star Wars" was indeed exhilarating in 1977. I hadn't really ever seen anything like it. It was spectacular, somewhat gritty, but also utterly simple — an old-school black-and-white epic, pitting good against bad, darkness against light

In the context of the mid-1970s, "Star Wars" was the ultimate cinematic distraction. Because outside the theater, America was in rough shape. The grownups were all freaked out, and the kids could tell. Just two years after "Star Wars" opened, President Jimmy Carter would give his infamous "Malaise" speech, which now serves as shorthand for the grim realities of the '70s: stagflation, the Iran hostage crisis, the collapse of the American middle class, the breakdown of traditional family. The 3 Mile Island nuclear disaster, the long hangover of Watergate and Vietnam and the vanished promise of Woodstock and the counterculture.

"Star Wars" has been derided for being nostalgic, but in those days, when the Cold War was still on and the Detroit auto industry was losing its battle against upstart Japanese car makers, when the US military was still licking its wounds after the debacle in Southeast Asia and inflation was in double-digits, the country was lusting for a throwback mood swing. Ronald Reagan, a creature of Hollywood in the 1950s, arguably rode that desire to the White House in 1980.

"Star Wars" was the turning point. But it did arrive a long time ago in an America that now seems far, far away, indeed.

Although I thought "Star Wars" was very cool when I saw it at age 10, by the time "The Empire Strikes" back landed in 1980, I considered "Star Wars" to be embarrassingly uncool. I was a teenager — "Star Wars" was kid stuff.

This is basically the way my 13-year-old is thinking about "The Force Awakens."

"It's going to be awful," I told her, right after I saw Carrie Fisher as Princess (now "General") Leia on a sign atop a New York taxi (I know far too much about Fisher's post-"Star Wars" life) and before I read some of the early reviews.

My daughter agreed. Not that she isn't going to see it (she'll beat the rest of us by at least a day). But she's got the jaded teenager thing down. Even if it's terrific, it will still be "Star Wars" and vastly less cool that what she really likes these days, which is rock-n-roll and hair dye.

The vast cultural phenomenon that "Star Wars" has become never stopped baffling me, even as I grew to accept it. For starters, I saw many more movies after "Star Wars" and I quite quickly realized how bad "Star Wars" was as cinema. The logical and mature reaction to "Star Wars" was to put it rapidly in its proper place and at the very least move on to "Alien."

But that was a lost bet on a different future. "Star Wars" set us on a course for "The Avengers," inevitably. My adulthood unfortunately developed in the wake of a period of rebellious innovation in moviemaking — and the rejection of that innovation in favor of "Star Wars"-style blockbusters. It didn't take me long to figure out how bad "Star Wars" was. But that coincided with over three decades of fighting the tide.

Giving up

So I gave up and just let "Star Wars" wash over me — my kids have the arsenal of toy light sabers and the Lego sets and action figures to prove it. To borrow a line from the TV reboot of "Star Trek," resistance was futile. I can do a decent impression of Darth Vader informing Luke Skywalker that he's his FAH-ther.

Still, I wasn't wrong in the late '70s. And here I am, with a 10-year-old boy who in the next few years is going to have to make up his own mind about "Star Wars." The guidance that I received when I was in his position was "that's not a real movie."

"The Godfather" was a real movie. "Citizen Kane" was a real movie. "The Graduate" was a real movie. "M*A*S*H" was a real movie. "The 400 Blows" was a real movie. "Blue Velvet" was a real movie. "Lawrence of Arabia" was a real movie.

But everything I've said and done since I introduced "Star Wars" to my kids has suggested that it's actually more than a real movie. It's something that defines us. "You raised me on 'Star Wars'," my daughter said, trying to convince me let go to a midnight showing.

Of course that was a fun angle to take for a while, but it's also something I don't entirely believe. And now I'm at a treacherous impasse: the right thing to do is seize the moment and set him on a path away from superfandom — but he's going to want to know what all the fuss over "Star Wars" since he was five was all about.

The obvious solution here is to simply relax, get some popcorn, sit back, enjoy myself, and let the entertainment value of "The Force Awakens" override the fear. My kids can draw their own conclusions. Life goes on, bra! And who knows, maybe Abrams has found a way to make his 1977 flashback both exuberant and aesthetically magnificent. 

I'll let you know how it goes. Because the truth is, I'm scared to death!

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Count former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush among the fans and critics who think that director J.J. Abrams made the right move by leaning on "old-school" filmmaking techniques while making "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."

In an interview with Business Insider, Bush said that he's looking forward to seeing how Abrams attempted to recreate the aesthetic feel of the original films by shunning computer graphics whenever possible and shooting on film instead of digitally.

"I want to see the subtlety," Bush said. "They could've made massive technological advances, cause now, the technologies that are available to transform 'Star Wars' into something — you know, another futuristic movie. But it looks to me that they, with great subtlety, have made small advances. I want to see how that plays out, and how people respond to it. I think that'll be fascinating."

Watch below:

Abrams has repeatedly emphasized in interviews that a major part of winning over fans of the original series involved ensuring that the new films had the same aesthetic stamp, which Abrams hoped to achieve by using elaborate sets and detailed puppets instead of computer graphics.

"The big thing for me was, I was nervous about CG being the master we were serving,"Abrams said in an interview with Stephen Colbert in November. "On this movie, we knew, OK, it's 'Star Wars.' There are going to be a lot of ships flying, there will a lot of things we couldn't possibly ever do, of course, physically. But we knew that there needed to be a standard that those shots were adhering to and we'd try to match. So, it was really important to me to shoot on film."

Bush paid tribute to the series earlier this year with a GIF that incorporated a lightsaber into his official campaign logo.

But don't expect to find the former camped out in front of any theaters on the campaign trail this week. Asked if he'd be seeing the film, Bush admitted that he had failed to secure tickets for opening night.

"I will, but it won't be, obviously, soon, since I haven't pre-purchased my tickets. So it'll probably be in March, which is pretty extraordinary," Bush said.

But Bush did attempt to maintain some Star Wars fanboy credibility.

Asked by Business Insider if he liked the prequel trilogy, Episodes I through III, which were released in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Bush shook his head.

"No, I like the first ones. The prequels — the last three? Not as big a fan," Bush said.

"Sorry, George," he added, referring to George Lucas, the creator of the franchise.

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Daisy Ridley, 23, went from being relatively unknown to the name everybody was talking about when casting for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" was announced in 2014.

She plays Rey, a mysterious scavenger in "The Force Awakens."

Prior to joining the film's cast, Ridley's credits consisted of a couple guest appearances on television shows and shorts. 

With "The Force Awakens" set for two more sequels, Ridley won't be leaving the "Star Wars" world anytime soon and her list of projects is sure to grow.

Here's your introduction to this future franchise star. 

Born and raised in Westminster, London, Daisy Ridley is the youngest of five sisters. Her father is a photographer and her mother works in internal communications at a bank.

(SOURCE)

She's not the only one in her family with performing in her blood. Her great-uncle is Arnold Riley, an actor well-known for his role in "Dad's Army," a popular British sitcom that ran from 1968-1977.

(SOURCE)

Daisy went to school at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts, where she specialized in musical theater, and graduated in 2010 when she was 18.

(SOURCE)

Adam Savage, co-host of the popular "MythBusters" television show, soured on the plot of "Interstellar." But when it comes to the newest films in the "Star Wars" franchise, he has nothing but high hopes.

Produced by Justin Gmoser

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Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton ended Saturday night's Democratic debate with a "Star Wars" reference.

"Good night! And may the Force be with you!" Clinton said at the end of her closing statement, where she stood between Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D).

It was, somewhat improbably, the only "Star Wars" reference to enter into Saturday night's debate. "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" opened this weekend.

Watch below:

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Rey is a mysterious scavenger in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and is the lead character in the seventh installment of the incredibly popular franchise.

And since Star Wars is going to unveil two more sequels, the latest film left a lot of unanswered questions for cinemagoers in order to keep a juicy story arc going for the next couple of movies.

The biggest question being asked? Who are Rey's parents?

***The rest of this article contains major spoilers

The character Rey, played by 23-year-old Daisy Ridley, is pretty much being built up to be the same kind of lead character as Luke Skywalker, played by Mark Hamill. She is part of a vast universe, but in it she is the centre point to all story lines and will be critical in saving the day.

She lives a simple existence as a scavenger who doesn't know when her next meal will be. Her starry-eyed attitude toward adventure is similar to that of a country bumpkin moving to the city — but on an intergalactic scale, obviously.

She comes from the desolate desert "junkyard" planet — as other characters describe it — called Jakku. Not too dissimilar to Tatooine where Luke Skywalker was dumped when he was a child.

Mirroring the fate of Skywalker, Rey was also shown to be left in Jakku when she was a young child in a time of war. 

Her journey in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" of finding courage, self-discovery, and responsibility mirrors that of Luke's in the "Star Wars: A New Hope." In fact, the backbone of the latest Star Wars installment is history repeating itself.

And of course, because "Star Wars: A Force Awakens" is very heavy-handed on this core theme, it is leading to some interesting fan theories that aim to answer the biggest question to arise from the latest Star Wars movie — who are Rey's parents?

In fact, one of the most active and prolific writers on Star Wars theory is Helge Kåre Fauskanger, and his explanation for who Rey's parental lineage is pretty convincing: 

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NOW WATCH: A weather reporter honored 'The Force Awakens' by jamming her forecast with 'Star Wars' puns

Mark Zuckerberg seems just as excited about the launch of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" this week as everybody else — judging by the two new pictures he posted on his personal Facebook page.

First of all, he dressed up his daughter Max as a jedi, surrounded by Star Wars related plushy toys, on December 17 with just a one line caption — "The force is strong with this one":

The post has racked up nearly 3 million likes so far.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan announced on December 1, about the birth of their daughter Max, which is short for Maxima.

And it looks like they are having fun dressing her up as any other nerdy parent who loves Star Wars would.

On December 18, Zuckerberg then posted a picture of his Puli, a type of Hungarian sheepdog, Beast dressed as a Sith (basically a baddie). The picture was accompanied by just one line too — "Meanwhile, Beast turned to the dark side":

The post about Beast, who also has his own Facebook page, has around 440,000 likes so far.

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" opened globally this week and has made a quarter of a billion dollars worldwide so far. 

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"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is taking over the world.

In North America alone, $100 million tickets have been presold — and the film made $57 million on preview showings in the US Thursday night. 

Critics are saying that it's the movie fans have been waiting for. 

But let's think about why the franchise resonates so deeply with people at such a huge scale.

I'm a Star Wars fan. Growing up, when people would say that they had never seen the movies, I'd look at them with a mixture of disgust and nonunderstanding. A snooty professor in college said that her generation didn't have Episodes IV through VI while she was growing up, and her misunderstanding of the chronology was devastatingly disappointing. 

But now that I've been writing about social science for a couple years, I have a hunch as to why people are so obsessed with the franchise — myself included. Basically, Star Wars fills a huge gap in our culture.

In tribal and modern cultures, initiations and other rituals create experiences shared by individuals, and each person folds them into their identity. The myths provide a sense of the good of the tribe, and provide a larger contextual meaning for living life. 

Myths are where cultural values are communicated, through the ancient technology called story. The ancient Greeks valued individualism and excellence, and you can see that in Odysseus; medieval Britons valued chivalry and self-sacrifice, and you learn that through King Arthur. 

But today, the myths are gone. We lionize Elon Musk and LeBron James, since they embody the status and wealth that our society values, yet neither of them give us the intense experiences that bond us together as a community. 

That's why, I think, Star Wars speaks to us so deeply: the story is a mythic one, and seeing the films is a transcendent, bonding experience. 

George Lucas was influenced by the mythologist Joseph Campbell when creating the original trilogy. Campbell pioneered the idea of the "Hero's journey" of departure, initiation, and return. That's why Luke leaves Tattooine, is initiated by Yoda, tempted by the Dark Side, and eventually comes to defeat Darth Vader and bring order back to the Force. 

That story structure is common — perhaps the most common — narrative humanity has. It turns up on every inhabited continent. Star Wars incorporates themes from Buddhism, Hinduism, and Stoicism. It communicates values. 

The movies are awesome, in the old and new sense of the world. Seeing Star Wars is a transcendent experience, and doing so initiates you into an order of nerds and enthusiasts all over the world. Star Wars creates community, in the sociological sense, in a way probably no other series of stories over the past 50 years has. 

In a mythless, consumerist, status-driven society, Star Wars gives us a myth that we're desperate to hear about — not just one of material "success" but of self-realization. And when we watch these movies, we're connected with each other.

So when the force awakens, it's international news.

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We knew "Star Wars" would have a massive opening weekend, but we weren't sure how big.

According to early reports, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" made an estimated $238 million opening weekend domestically. 

Don't be surprised if that number is bigger Monday morning.

That gives "Star Wars" the highest-grossing opening weekend by far. "Jurassic World" recently took the top spot back in June with $208.8 million.

Only three movies, including "Star Wars" have cracked the $200 million opening weekend. For comparison, here's a quick look at the movies with the highest-grossing opening weekends:

1. "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" (2015) — $238 million
2. "Jurassic World" (2015) — $208.8 million
3. "Marvel's The Avengers" (2012) – $204.7 million
4. "Avengers: Age of Ultron" (2015) — $191.3 million
5. "Iron Man 3" (2013) — $174.1 million 

The film, which debuted in 4,134 theaters has broken multiple opening weekend box-office records. Thursday night showings, which began at 7 p.m. as opposed to midnight screenings, brought in $57 million. Previously, the record holder was 2011's "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II" ($43.5 million). Friday, "Star Wars" made an estimated $120 million, making it the first movie to make $100 million in one day.

Worldwide, "The Force Awakens" has brought in $517 million. "Jurassic World" was the first movie to break $500 million in one weekend earlier this year.

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is well on its way to becoming the highest-grossing movie of all time. 

The number to beat?

$2.7 billion, set by James Cameron's "Avatar" in 2009.

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